The Rug Gallery: Hotbed of Liberalism

OBAMA

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:14:22 GMT

Our nation has elected our first black President.

Aerial vids of Ike damage

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:33:22 GMT

KHOU has a page listing aerial videos of Ike damage in Galveston, the Bolivar Peninsula, and parts of Houston. Go here.

DO NOT RUN GASOLINE GENERATORS IN YOUR HOUSE

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:55:42 GMT

I feel ill.

http://blogs.chron.com/hurricanes/2008/09/generators_carbon_monoxide_kil.html

Ike in west Houston

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:15:51 GMT

This is close to where one of my sister lives. From a Houston Chronicle slideshow of photos submitted by readers.

5 million w/o power in Houston area

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:57:20 GMT

Full restoration may take a month. Refineries are evaluating the damage; Houston/Baytown represents 22 percent of the refining capacity of the U.S.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6000349.html

More on Ike

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:18:18 GMT

Houston cell phone service is real patchy right now so I can't get thru to my folks. Also, they can't find their car cell phone charger. :/

This is a map of power outages as of 7 PM last night:

This is a community on the Bolivar Peninsula, post-Ike:

I-10 is flooded at Shepherd and eastward (the Houston Heights). Houston is getting more fucking RAIN so the areas between Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou are threatened. Parts of I-10 look like a lake.

I think casualties are going to rise once rescue crews can get into some of the devastated areas like east Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula.

Oh, and for those people safe in their snug air-conditioned houses who are scornful of the people who didn't leave: a lot of the people in affected areas got stuck in the Rita evac clusterfuck. A few weeks ago, they evac'ed when Gustav was on its way. With Gustav, lots of people spent money they couldn't afford to spend on gas and hotels... and then Gustav petered out. Is it any wonder that many decided to stay? Or didn't have enough money to leave even if they wanted to?

EDIT: WILL PEOPLE PLEASE NOT PUT THEIR FUCKING GENERATORS IN THEIR GARAGE????

Ike

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:32:04 GMT

KHOU has streaming video available here.

Over 2 million Centerpoint Energy customers alone are out of power.

That includes my entire family. They are all safe, just hot and bored. Mom can't cook because she has an electric stove; sisters have gas stoves. The city of Houston has advised people to stick to bottled water because contaminated water may make its way into the water supply due to pumping stations losing power.

East Galveston is trashed. Two-story high piles of debris across the roads; the storm even pushed erosion-control boulders across roads. Downtown Houston is littered with glass shards and heavy debris; it's still very dangerous because of debris falling from 30-40 stories up.

6,000 people are currently trying to call 911.

My Cat the Pr0n Star

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 02:06:11 GMT

Yes, he's fixed. He's also a pervert.

My Cat . the Porn Star

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:51:39 GMT

This is what I live with... every day. Even our other cat, The Boo, thinks he's weird.

My Cat the Pr0n Star

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:36:35 GMT

Yes, he's fixed. No I don't know why he does this. He's just a pervert.

Informative Structural Analysis Video

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:45:32 GMT

The Cure - End of the World & Lovesong Live 2008 in Houston

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 01:23:22 GMT

This is from the self-titled CD from 2004.

Holy guacamole, isn't anyone on my f-list a Cure fan??!!

ETA: the 2nd half has a nice version of Lovesong too.

"Out of This World" Live

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:59:42 GMT

Recorded June 9, 2008 at the Toyota Center.

When we look back at it all as I know we will
You and me, wide eyed
I wonder...
Will we really remember how it feels to be this alive?

And I know we have to go
I realize we only get to stay so long
Always have to go back to real lives
Where we belong
Where we belong
Where we belong

When we think back to all this and I'm sure we will
Me and you, here and now
Will we forget the way it really is
Why it feels like this and how?

And we always have to go I realize
We always have to say goodbye
Always have to go back to real lives

But real lives are the reason why
We want to live another life
We want to feel another time
Another time...

Yeah another time

To feel another time...

When we look back at it all as I know we will
You and me, wide eyed
I wonder...
Will we really remember how it feels to be this alive?

And I know we have to go
I realize we always have to turn away
Always have to go back to real lives

But real lives are why we stay
For another dream
Another day
For another world
Another way
For another way...

One last time before it's over
One last time before the end
One last time before it's time to go again...

New song by The Cure: "A Boy I Never Knew

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:10:14 GMT

Husband recorded this in Houston during The Cure's 4Tour.

(This won't be available for awhile yet. It just finished processing at 11:06 central time.)

ETA: It's available for viewing.

R a pe in the Congo: Blog in Solidarity

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:28:29 GMT

For millenia, r a pe has been used as a weapon of terror against women. The women of the Congo are the latest mass victims: hundreds of thousands of women have been raped by looting soldiers in a bloody civil war that has raged since the 1980s.
Melissa MacEwan of Shakespeare's Sister has more. See if you can get through this powerful and disturbing post. I'm sure having trouble finishing it.

Donate to CARE to support the women of Congo.

The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo won the Sundance Festival award for best documentary. It is being shown on HBO.

ETA: This post has been getting spam due to the four-letter word that begins with R. That's what happens in a r a pe culture.

It's raining, it's pouring...

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:54:01 GMT

...And I hope my tomato plants don't get pummeled to pulp.

"Oh-crud-what-did-I-put-in-this-lemme-write-it down-real-quick" Chicken

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:18:04 GMT

I had to write this down tonight so I wouldn't forget. My big problem w/ cooking is repeatable results, which is why I'm so fond of my Ras el Hanout spice mixes.

2 tsp cumin
~1 tsp coriander seed
~1/4 tsp black pepper
~1/2 to 1 tsp allspice
1 Tablespoon smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
~1/2 to 1 tsp ground ginger
~ 1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes (optional)

~4 lb chicken thighs and legs, skin and excess fat removed. Note: If desired, you can leave the skin on some of the thighs and brown them, but this is a pain in the ass and requires scraping skin off the bottom of your Dutch oven. I gave up after 4 pieces. ("Bored now.") I also used a free-range chicken so it wasn't nearly as fatty as using a battery-raised chicken.

2 onions, halved and sliced thin
4-6 garlic cloves, chopped
~2-3 Tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 C red wine. Or so.
~2 C broth, or to cover
1 large sweet potato, halved lengthwise and cut into large pieces
(I would have added carrots but I ran out of room in the pot)
Grated zest from one nicely scrubbed lemon (Yea, Microplane!)
(ETA) 1 to 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Toast cumin, coriander seed, allspice and pepper in dry skillet; pour into heat-safe container. When cool enough, grind spices in your spice grinder (a coffee grinder used only for spices), then combine with paprika, cinnamon and ginger. Set aside.

Have red wine, broth or other liquid ready to deglaze pan. If you don't have liquids ready, you might be doomed. Just saying.

In a heavy Dutch oven, saute onion in olive oil on med or med-high heat until they brown and soften. Watch that they don't burn on the bottom. I used a ton of onions this time, and didn't bother to caramelize them a whole lot because I was tired of standing.

Shove onion to the side of the pot.

Add minced garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add dry spices and stir for about 30 sec. Add tomato paste. Watch the hell out of it!!!!

Deglaze with wine and stir the hell out of it. Add additional broth if necessary.

After you deglaze and scrape up yummy stuff from the bottom of the pan, place chicken pieces in, making sure that every piece is level and will able to be submerged in the broth. Add Sweet potato pieces. Add more broth if needed. In this batch, the sweet potato was not submerged at first, but sank down as the chicken cooked.

At this point, you have two cooking options: 1. Simmer for ~1 hour on the stovetop, which requires some watching to make sure it doesn't either a)boil or b) just sit there and not do anything. Recommended when it's too damn hot to turn your oven on.

2. Bring the liquid to a boil on the stovetop, then turn off and cover the pot with a piece of foil. Place the lid on the pot and try to seal the edges with the foil. Then bake in a 300 deg. F oven for about an hour.

I got tired of checking the progress using Option 1, so I switched to Option 2 after about 30 min.

Remove from oven/stovetop, remove lid and let cool a bit. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and maybe some chopped cilantro if you have any. Fresh pita bread is nice too.

The result: YUM!

Kitchen stuff you should have

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:15:48 GMT

Someone's comment on a friend's blog started me to thinking about the kitchen equipment I would recommend to novice cooks. Sure, I have a potato masher, a Bundt cake pan and an oyster knife--but what do I use every day, or every week? Here's my list. Note that it's better to buy one or two nice pieces at a time and build up your cooking arsenal gradually, instead of getting a 187-piece set that's either crap or freakishly expensive. And for Pete's sake check out Ebay or the local restaurant supply warehouse. You don't need a designer chef's knife for crying out loud.

Forschner (Victorinox) chef's knives: You gotta have a good knife. A crappy knife is worse than no knife at all. Forschner is one of the two Swiss companies that makes Swiss Army knives. This feels good in your hand and you can get one for under $25. And you can stick it in the dishwasher. If you can get only one thing from this list, it would be this.

If you get a decent knife or knife set, it's also a good idea to have a sharpening steel to straighten out the blade before each use. I've got a diamond-coated one that sharpens AND straightens the blade. (Thanks, FIL!)

Heavy-ass Dutch Oven: And I do mean heavy, for even cooking and temperature retention. Enameled or cast-iron--I have both. You can use a Dutch oven for soups and stews, pot roasts, even breads. The Lodge company has info on caring for cast-ron cookware. No brillo padz, plz!!

2-qt saucepan w/ tight-fitting lid: if you like to make rice. Like all pots and pans, it should be heavy, esp. on the bottom, and not feel light or flimsy.

Plastic cutting boards: Get them at Target, at restaurant supply houses (super cheap), IKEA... I have several. Some people have color coded ones-one for meats, one for veggies, etc.

Non-stick skillet: If you like omelets. NOTE: Don't turn the heat up past med-high, otherwise you'll ruin the coating. Don't get a thin, cheap one. It should be heavy. I have one for omelets and another with a lid for other, non-omelet stuff.

Silicone spatula: Sick of accidentally melting plastic or nylon spatulas? Silicone ones are non-stick and heat resistant to 500 deg. F. Get 'em about anywhere.

Also:

A ton of cheap kitchen towels and dishcloths. You can find them at IKEA or Tuesday Morning or wherever. I get white or unbleached ones so I can use hot water w/o worrying about fading.

Measuring spoons and cups

Pyrex casserole dishes for heating stuff up in the microwave, or storing the stew you made in your Dutch oven.

Ras el Hanout recipes

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 22:17:14 GMT

Ras el Hanout, which kindasorta means "Top of the Shop" in Arabic, is a catchall term for a type of Moroccan spice mix traditionally used in tagines--slow-cooked stews cooked in earthenware vessels of the same name. A ras el hanout mix can contain a bazillion different spices, and has been known to include stuff like hashish and Spanish fly (Ew. I mean, seriously, ew.). Fear not, I have gathered together ras el hanout recipes that are perfectly harmless, yet yummy. I tested No. 1 yesterday on stew meat (cubed chuck, grassfed of course) and it was so good I thought I was going to pass out. I added about 1/2 t of red pepper flakes to about 3 heaping tablespoons of the spice mix.

If you make these mixes, don't hoard them--use them. Ground spices go stale pretty quick. I got some handsome Quattro Forgioni jars from The Container Store, which are the perfect size. I whipped up several batches of spice mix for Christmas presents. To hell with those crappy salt-and-preservative-laden "spice" envelopes from McCormick and Lawry! Make your own stuff.

Three Ras El Hanout recipes

Recipes 1 and 3 are from foodblog Spicelines.com.
http://www.spicelines.com/2006/10/ras_el_hanout_the_secret_ingre.htm

Ras el Hanout #1

At her Cambridge restaurant, chef Ana Sortun uses a simple seven-spice blend as a “condiment” for chickpeas, fried squid, fish, and vegetables. “However,” she writes in her cookbook, “I think it really shines with chicken, which takes on the reddish hue of the paprika, and the slight sweetness of the ginger, saffron and cumin.” Toasting the cumin seed takes away the raw edge of the spice, giving it a warm, earthy taste. Makes about 1 cup.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup cumin seeds
3/4 teaspoon saffron
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup paprika

Method:
1. In a small skillet over medium low heat, toast the cumin seeds for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Place the seeds in a spice grinder and coolcompletely. Add the saffron to the spice grinder and grind with the cumin seed.

2. Remove the saffron and cumin mixture to a small mixing bowl and combinewith the remaining spices.

Ras El Hanout #2

Kitty Morse’s Ras el Hanout
from Kitty Morse, Cooking at the Kasbah: Recipes from My Moroccan Kitchen)
Kitty Morse, who was born in Casablanca, has written nine cookbooks including Cooking at the Kasbah, which was inspired by her family’s recipes. This version of ras el hanout is a blend of 9 spices plus salt. Morse uses the robust blend in a recipe for Kefta Mahchiya: stuffed meatballs with dried fruit in sweet onion sauce. The mixture has the slightest whiff of turmeric—or is it nutmeg? Either way, it is a favorite in our house—the secret ingredient in to-die-for fried chicken.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon allspice berries or 1-1/4 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons black peppercorns or 1-1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper<
2 teaspoons cardamom seeds or 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 whole nutmeg or 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
20 threads Spanish saffron [I skipped the saffron]
1-1/2 teaspoons blade mace or ground mace
1 three-inch cinnamon stick or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 two-inch pieces dried ginger or 2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons salt [I skipped the salt]
1 two-inch piece dried turmeric or 1 teaspoon ground

Method:
1. If using whole spices, put all the ingredients in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat and toast, stirring constantly, until the mixture emits a pleasant aroma, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.(This first step is not necessary if using commercially ground spices.)

2. Using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, reduce theingredients to a fine powder. Sift to remove fibrous elements. Place in atightly sealed container and store in a cool, dark place or in the freezer.

Ras el Hanout #3

From Chef Stephanie Alexander
Ras el hanout for beef tagine
Grind the following to a coarse powder.

1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cloves
3 cardamom pods
1 piece mace [Mace comes in “blades”; I guessed that this is ¼ to ½ teaspoon]
3 allspice berries
6 fennel seeds

Dominionists: You too can be an intolerant asshole! Ask us how

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 05:03:54 GMT

Leaders of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin canceled an organization's reservations for an interfaith Thanksgiving celebration, leaving Austin Area Interreligious Ministries only four days to find a new venue. The reason? Church leaders suddenly realized that the interfaith celebration would be led not just by non-Christians, but--gasp! Muslims. Fortunately, a Jewish congregation has opened their doors. The local paper has covered the the church's rude behavior, ensuring that tens of thousands of people are going to know exactly the kind of bigoted xenophobes run

Church rejects interfaith service on its property

If you live in the Austin area: the event will be held at Congregation Beth Israel, 3901 Shoal Creek Blvd., on Sunday, November 18th at 4:00pm. I'm bringing an interfaith pie. First UU is hosting some tables at the event.

Chris Hedges on Iran

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:34:46 GMT

Veteran war correspondent Chris Hedges echoes Dana Priest when he says that it is the U.S. military, not Congress, that is the strongest bulwark against an attack on Iran.

"In the Hands of the Military"

The last wall of defense that prevents the Bush administration from targeting Iran, an attack that could ignite a regional conflagration and usher in apocalyptic scenarios in the Middle East, runs through the offices of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; Adm. William Fallon , the head of the Central Command (CENTCOM); and Gen. George Casey, the Army's new chief of staff. These three figures in the defense establishment have told George W. Bush and the Congress how depleted the U.S. military has become, that it cannot manage another conflict, and that a war with Iran would make the war with Iraq look like an act of prudence and common sense.

The reliance on the military command, however, to be the voice of reason in the debate about a new war is not a healthy sign for our deteriorating democracy. Compliant generals can always be found to carry out the Dr. Strangelove designs of a mad White House. Those who resist implementing decisions can easily be removed. The protective cover provided by these figures in the defense establishment could vanish.

Chris Hedges is the author of War is a Force That Gives us Meaning and American Fascists. I highly recommend both books.

FREE BURMA

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:34:24 GMT

Today is the International Bloggers' Day for Burma.

http://www.free-burma.org/

This is the kind of guy who thinks bombing Iran would be cool

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:16:48 GMT

Bush still thought in 2006 that Iraq had WMD.

Bush, for his part, was not disposed to second-guessing. Througout 2006, he read historical texts relating to Lincoln, Churchill, and Truman — three wartime leaders, the latter two of whom left office to something less than public acclaim. History would acquit him, too. Bushwas confident of that, and of something else as well. Though it was not the sort of thing one could say publicly anymore, the president still believed that Saddam had possessed weapons of mass destruction. He repeated this conviction to Andy Card all the way up until Card’s departure in April 2006, almost exactly three years after the Coalition had begun its fruitless search for WMDs. [p. 388]

In 2006. Long after even the diehard Fox viewers had reluctantly given up on the notion. Hell, he's probably still thinking it.

Someone this delusional is going to have no problem thinking that bombing Iran will solve all his problems. He's listening to nutjobs like Michael Ledeen, who have been harping on Iran for decades. Bush is weak, and very highly susceptible to manipulation.

He's going to do it unless Congress stops him.

Don't relax. Don't let your guard down. Bush is still going to attack Iran

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:57:34 GMT

A clarification regarding my previous entry: the Kos diary I linked to has been removed and is believed to be a hoax regarding specific claims about military preparations.

But a hoax diary changes nothing. Bush and Cheney plan on attacking Iran, and are rolling out the war wagons just like they did in 2002. Same tactics, different country.

Barnett Rubin knows what the hell he's talking about.
http://icga.blogspot.com/2007/09/iran-war-rollout-starts-link-to-iraq.html
http://icga.blogspot.com/2007/09/rollout-to-war-with-iran-update.html

So does Glenn Greenwald.
http://salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/08/29/iran/

So does Seymour Hersh.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/19/hersh-iran-agent/

So does Ken Silverstein.
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/02/sb-war-with-ir-1171457451

Insane? Yes. But Bush is so far down in the hole, he feels he has nothing left to lose. Attacking Iran is his one last chance to prove to the world and to history that he was Right, By God.

And god help us, I don't know how we can stop him.

ETA: Rep. Lloyd Doggett, my Rep, is one of the co-sponsors of HR 770, which would prohibit the funding of military action against Iran in the absence of an imminent threat.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00770:@@@P

Edited: Confirmation bias strikes again "We are going to hit Iran. Big time."

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 23:08:11 GMT

"I don’t think it’s limited at all. We are shipping in and assigning every damn Tomahawk we have in inventory. I think this is going to be massive and sudden, like thousands of targets. I believe that no American will know when it happens until after it happens. And whatever the consequences, whatever the consequences, they will have to be lived with. I am sure if my father knew I was telling someone in a news organization that we were about to launch a supposedly secret attack that it would be treason. But something inside me tells me to tell it anyway."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/1/183018/1527

ETA: This is what I get for breaking my own rule about checking stuff out. That diary was taken down. Kos himself intervened and apparently had the diary deleted, and another diarist called BS on some of Maccabee's--such as talking about Tomahawk targeting--that simply wouldn't have happened.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/2/194714/9801

It seems like the commenter, Maccabee, has had a history of being a bullshit artist and talking to in-the-loop people whom he manages to quote flawlessly without a tape recorder. One Kossack linked to six of his previous posts, and they all featured ominous warnings from articulate people with unique life experiences... with arresting, near-novelistic quotes.

Bottom line: Maccabee and people like him use very real and plausible concerns to get attention. People who get their information only from the traditional media will be inclined to dismiss the idea of an attack on Iran as patently ludicrous. Not checking stuff out damages our credibility.